Obituary –
Professor Nagindasbhai Sanghavi – one of India’s most established political professors – passed away on Sunday 12th July in Surat, Gujarat at the grand age of 100. Naginbapa as he was lovingly referred to by so many, was a leading literary light in India. His passing represents the demise of one of India’s oldest journalists representing the end of an era of pre-independence writers.
Awarded the Padma Shri - India's 4th highest civilian honour – Naginbapa was a renowned author, and a popular columnist in a wide range of English, Gujarati and Hindi newspapers. Throughout his life, Naginbapa was also a keen writer on the life of Mahatma Gandhi.
Born in 1920 in humble beginnings in Gujarat, Naginbapa led an extraordinary, colourful life. Having lived a century, Naginbapa has been an eyewitness to all types of national events and political formations and re-formations. He has put in thousands of hours in his writing and travelled across Gujarat, collecting and collating stories for the benefit of ordinary people.
Arriving in Mumbai in 1947 to find his fortune, Naginbapa would go on to become one of India’s finest contemporary writers. After empowering himself with education, he taught political science at Bhavans College in Andheri – when no one else would go near it. He later moved to Ruparel College and ended his career as the Head of Mithibai College.
However, his greatest legacy was his devotion to Morari Bapu, who he served as a loyal Shrota (follower), translating over 60 of Bapu’s Ram Kathas into English. Naginbapa played an invaluable role in making Bapu’s message of Truth, Love and Compassion accessible to thousands of people across the world, particularly young people. He was renowned for translating Bapu’s Katha here in London on countless occasions, as well as other destinations including the US,Japan, Greece and Jordan. His passing has been a huge loss to Bapu and has triggered thousands of young people across the world to pay tribute to this literary mastermind for providing them with the gift to understand Bapu’s message.
Translating Bapu’s Katha is no small feat. Naginbapa was an outstanding orator and his ability to translate without changing or influencing the true meaning of Katha was both commendable and honourable. Naginbapa is remembered for staying up all night to translate Bapu’s Katha from the day before, which followers would eagerly wait to listen to.
Naginbapa was also a political thinker and he strategized Bapu’s Katha in 2014 in the Vatican– the home of the Catholic Church. What was deemed impossible was made a reality through Naginbapa’s resourcefulness. Naginbapa was able to pave the way for the first Hindu recital of its kind to be held in the Vatican. The Katha became renowned for the role it played in strengthening interfaith dialogue between Hinduism and Christianity.
By nature, Naginbapa will always be remembered for his glowing smile and infectious laughter. Charming, passionate and quietly confident, he would always command the respect of his audience. His age was never a barrier for him to work or travel and at times Naginbapa was by far the healthiest and fittest man in the room. His physical health and stamina was remarkable, but he had the mental capacity to match. Naginbapa’s memory was razor sharp and his philosophy thinking was unrivalled.
Throughout his life, Naginbapa was a tremendous advocate for the power of education. He loved thought provoking dialogue and believed in the importance of questioning. Prime Ministers would come and go, but Naginbapa would remain as the fearless critic which all politicians feared.
Tributes poured in from leaders across India and the world – including Prime Minister Narendra Modi who tweeted; "Shree Nagindas Sanghavi was an enlightened writer and thinker. His articles and books had the knowledge of history and philosophy and extraordinary skills of analysis of political events. I am saddened by his demise. My condolences to shocked family and his readers."
Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani described Sanghavi as someone who made thorough observations of social life and problems facing the country and world and had the ability to analyse issues in depth. Here in the UK, Lord Bhikhubhai Parekh also paid tribute to Naginbapa, after writing a foreword for Naginbapa’s book “The Agony of Arrival: Gandhi, the South Africa Years”. Lord Parekh said his death was an immense loss to journalism.
I also have very fond memories of Naginbapa and I will personally never forget his review of my own book - “A British Subject” – which was released last year. Not only did he translate Bapu’s message for the book, but he translated extracts for Bapu and others to understand.
Naginbapa was literary marvel. He had a way with words, putting rhythm into prose and churning questions out of answers. His intellect was beyond compare. Only Naginbapa would know the ins and outs of Tulsidas and Valmiki’s teachings, but then speak with the upmost authority on Congresses downfall in India in recent years, to Trump’s rise in the US, ending by reiterating ancient Greek philosophy. Professor Sanghavi was one of a kind whose like we will regrettably never see again.
Photo 1 – Naginbapa acting as a translator for Bapu during a meeting with Cardinal Tauran (President of the Vatican’s Interfaith Council) during Bapu’s Katha at the Vatican in 2014 which he helped to strategize and make into a reality. Also in the photo Lord Dolar Popat and son Rupeen.
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We shall miss him greatly
Lord Bhikhu Parekh
The news of Nagindas Sanghavi's death saddened me deeply. I first met him nearly forty years ago in Usha Mehta's office and took to him immediately. He was warm, thoughtful, with great experience of the world, gifted with a brilliant analytical mind and courage to say things as he saw them. Over time our friendship deepened and we began to consult each other on our writings. Naginbhai sent me his excellent book on Gandhi in South Africa for comments and a foreword, which I was happy to do. More recently he sent me his manuscript on Rajiv Gandhi, on which he had been working for some time, for comments.
Nagindas was a child of Mumbai. He secured an MA from the University of Mumbai and spent several years there, first as a lecturer in history in many Mumbai colleges, and later as a head of the Department of History and Politics. He was a gifted teacher and a brilliant analyst. His Swaraj Darshan was rightly a reference book for Mumbai University's postgraduate students.
In later years he wrote regularly for the media and was a great hit. His columns were widely read and shaped the culture of Gujarati speaking people. In 1995 Gujarat Sahitya Academy adjudged him the best political commentator in the Gujarati language. In my view his influence through his columns and serious academic writings was immense and makes him one of the architects of modern Gujarat. He lived a long and healthy life and retained his intellectual vitality until the last moment of his life. We shall miss him greatly.
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Man for All Seasons
1920-2020
Hasu Manek
1920-2020A lot has been and will be written and spoken about this remarkable centenarian who at the grand old age of 98 was described by Mumbai Mirror as The oldest columnist anywhere. Though I enjoyed reading his weekly columns on current affairs and his books, I am perhaps less qualified to comment on the journalist, the author, the political commentator, or the historian that he was. Suffice to say that he was a man of letters par excellence. Like many others who met him through Morari Bapu, I also consider myself fortunate to have had a chance to meet and know this larger-than-life personality, fondly known as Nagindasbapa or just Bapa.
Bapa and Ba (his late wife Prabhaben) happened to stay with our family for some ten days in the scorching summer of 2006 when I had the opportunity to experience his endearing personality at close quarters. It was his simplicity and remarkable ability to comfortably engage with and relate to the young and the not so young on one hand and with eminent scholars, thinkers and politicians on the other, with equal ease, that I found to be most enchanting and engaging. Needless to say we thoroughly enjoyed having them with us.
During his stay with us, I recall accompanying Bapa to Oxford for a meeting with another extraordinary person dedicated to the cause of the Hindu Studies; Shri Shaunaka Rishi Das, the Director of Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies (OCHS). Whilst walking towards the OCHS building on a beautiful August day, Bapa suddenly halted and soon he was engaged in an animated conversation with the equally curious pedestrians, most of whom were students. His friendliness was always so contagious. When we resumed the walk, he gleefully expressed that he was reminded of his days as a lecturer at two of the most prestigious colleges in Mumbai at the time. Before we reached, I gathered the courage to ask him, “Bapa, if you don’t mind me asking; how old are you?” My question was answered with a question! Hesitatingly, I said around 75. Lo and behold, he was 86 plus! I was truly gobsmacked. I asked what the secret was. He said that he has hardly exercised but has always eaten sensibly. However, fundamentally his secret lay in his quest for knowledge and maintained that he had still a lot to learn and accomplish.
Just before Morari Bapu’s last London Katha organised by the Sachdev Family in 2017, during a telephone conversation, Bapa (he was 97 then) asked me if there was any possibility for him to spend time at the House of Commons Library and suggested that I enquire with his friend Lord Dolar Papat and I did. As it turned out, I think due to the summer recess, this was not possible. However, the point is that this aptly demonstrates his endless pursuit for knowledge, a quality well worth emulating. He ceaselessly amazed us all.
His childlike curiosity, which sadly many of us have lost, was captivating to say the least. From what I know, monetarily, he had never been well off and had in fact struggled. His true wealth though was the enormity of his vast knowledge coupled with the unique skill to command the respect and attention of his readers and the pin drop silence from his audience even in his 100th year.
His smile, his love for literature and his compelling positivity is a gift to all those whose lives he has touched, and these fine qualities will remain etched in our hearts and minds forever.
